Trump Formally Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

President Donald Trump speaks at a swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(Newser)
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Republican lawmakers have nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Eighteen House members penned a letter Wednesday to the Nobel Prize Committee praising the president’s efforts to broker peace in the Korean Peninsula, reports the Hill. "President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region," the letter says. The lawmakers credit the president for the recent historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which the leaders agreed to rid the Peninsula of nuclear weapons and bring a formal end to the countries’ 68-year-old war. Although the countries entered into an armistice in 1953, they never signed an official peace treaty.

If the two countries can resolve their differences, Trump deserves the prize, Sen. Bob Corker told CNBC Wednesday, but the senator issued a caution. The Foreign Relations Committee chair said that North Korea has made several overtures in the last two decades, only to reverse course. In a separate interview with CNBC, retired Gen. Michael Hayden credited progress with North Korea to four things: "The president squeezing the [North] Koreans, the economic sanctions, the diplomatic isolation, the military demonstrations.” He added, though, that Trump's earlier tweets about Kim, in which he famously called him “Rocket Man,” were not helpful. Trump plans to meet with the North Korean leader in the next month or so. If the meeting takes place, it would be the first time a sitting US president has met with a North Korean leader. (South Korean President Moon Jae-in says Trump deserves the prize.)